"Don Bosco"

In our religious circles buying something in an individual's name always leads to complications.  So does putting the office titles as owners!!  The problem with names on purchase orders, maintenance contracts, agreements, registration and what not is that after a couple of years, the individual is transferred and the company will not look kindly on the new 'owner'.  Back in India, to avoid this difficulty, I used to put down 'Don Bosco' as the name.  But even that has its own issues!

I remember one day while at Ramanthapur, there was a technician who arrived at the gates to repair the water filter or something.  He found one of our boys and asked for 'Don Bosco'. The boy in all his innocence pointed him the statue of Don Bosco!  The man was shocked.  Presuming the 'owner' had died, he asked, "When did he die?"  The boy, who was with us for years, knew his Salesian history well and promptly replied, "More than a hundred years ago."  Realizing something was not right, he stated the purpose of his visit and asked to be shown someone 'incharge'.  The boy knew that I looked into these matters and so he brought the gentleman straight to my office.  And as he entered, he said in a very pitiful tone, "What Brother!  This man does not know anything of Don Bosco!!"  Being with us Salesians and hearing about Don Bosco a hundred times during the day, he presumed everyone in the world would know Don Bosco!